New Moms: Before You Eat Your Placenta, Read This First

Eating your placenta. Yep, it’s a thing that people do now. And it’s only growing in popularity. Celebs such as Kourtney Kardashian and Alicia Silverstone swear by it, putting this practice in the media spotlight. So does eating the placenta really do anything beneficial for the post-partum mama? Well…plenty of new mommies claim that it has benefits galore. But that doesn’t necessarily mean all the hype is true. Check out what recent research says on the subject.

Why does anyone eat their placenta? Rats eat their placentas. Of course, they also live in sewers and hang out in walls. For our little rodent friends (along with other mammals), eating the placenta can help to relieve pain and facilitate bonding with baby. But what about humans?

Some mamas claim that eating encapsulated placenta pills or drinking a placenta powder smoothie boosts their mood and provides plenty of the extra energy they need to function with a newborn. Two recent research projects took a look at how consuming the placenta after birth influenced the new mommy’s mood, hormone levels, energy and ability to bond with baby.

And what did the researchers find? Umm, not much. There were no significant changes in hormone levels and pills made from the placenta didn’t do much to actually counteract the seemingly endless case of the postpartum tireds.

Does this mean that eating the placenta is 100% not necessarily? Nope. These are only two small studies on the subject. While the benefits that some mamas claim to see could be more of a placebo effect than a placenta effect, whether you eat yours or not is a personal choice that no one else should make for you.

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Would you eat your placenta? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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